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Vendaven
The History of the Kingdom Of Vendaven The kingdom of Vendaven , also known as The Land of Power is a powerful kingdom located in the Vendaven riverlands. Their land expands across the entire region, even reaching an abandoned dwarven fortress far up the snowy north. It’s known for its rich--yet very Thoralian-style of architecture, marked by the grand palace located east in Vendaven’s capital city. It’s known for its well-grown carrot crops, as they are the main Vendaven trade. Vendaven was founded by refugees from the old cities of Karum and Aureum, provinces now long gone. When the grey plague hit the two twin cities, the few remaining survivors had no option but to escape the tainted land. They wandered and wandered until they fell upon the riverlands, lands with soil so blissful and rivers yearning for fishermen and trade ships. There the seed to a prosperous kingdom was planted and Strombourgh was formed. Strombourgh started as a trading post, in a great location between the Frije river to the north, and the Klovebach river to the west. The post became wealthy by trading locally gathered wood, fish, and other useful items. Within a few decades, the people came over in large numbers from surrounding lands, seeking work and protection from the local bandit groups. The growth of Strombourgh has been hasted quite early in its ‘golden era’ - at least a third of the town population has perished during a famine, which is why the Vendavians still hate wasting any food, always seeking new silly ways to preserve it. Years after the famine, after Strombourgh could stand back on its feet, it was exposed to constant raids carried out by the local bandits and those who left during the famine. To solve this problem, the mayor of Strombourgh has ordered the building of Karum Keep, a place of residence for all future leaders of Strombourgh and Vendaven. Known for power-hungry leaders and weak governments, Strombourgh has been in decades-long turmoil, ended by the 147th Mayor of Strombourgh, who has decided to abolish the electorate and no longer allowed the local aristocracy to choose the mayor, instead making himself the life-long leader of Strombourgh, and taking the name of Duke Karl Varseveld of Vendaven. Soon after, the Duke has appointed his brother, Kamahl Varseveld, as the Baron of Strombourgh. Baron Kamahl has soon reformed Vendaven’s legal system, increasing the safety in Vendaven, and decreasing the reports of criminal activities; soon after, Kamahl was discovered to have turned the dungeons of Karum Keep into a world-renowned prison, housing many ruthless criminals (and definitely not political prisoners). Currently, the duchy is striving to become a kingdom, in order to combine the locals into a common power. The Duke considers this to be crucial for eradicating the annoying local bandits, and ensuring peace in the region. The future of the duchy is to be written by its people, and the people of Thoralis. Following lengthy negotiations with King Alexander of Kingsreach, and the only rightfully appointed and accepted king of Thoralis, Duke Varseveld has been given a blessing to become a king himself. The King has expressed great interest in seeing to another kingdom rising up, as it would allow for law and order to spread through the world. The planned coronation will take place in Karum Keep, to be carried out by Matriarch Serena, and attended by King Alexander and other dignitaries from all over Thoralis. After the unfortunate disappearance of King Karl and Prince Kamahl, the kingdom saw itself stepping on Death's feet until Daryl Cordayne took the lead, dancing this familiar waltz with the kingdom's demise one last time. From then on, Daryl had declared himself king, promising a golden age to Vendaven. The current king of Vendaven is His Majesty Daryl Cordayne. The first king of Vendaven was His Majesty Karl, who set the rule that all “C’s” spoken and written in his kingdom must be replaced with the letter “K”. His Majesty Daryl Cordayne was the first to question and dismantle said law, as none of the citizens in Vendaven were too fond of it. The City of Aldsea During the reign of King Karl, the kingdom of Vendaven was struggling with much internal turmoil, which finally led to its decline, leaving Aldsea more or less on its own. Since 3E 1145, the city had established itself as a leader and a heir to the declining kingdom. Its leader, the last King's distant cousin Giacomo Varseveld, had established a working government in the past colony and slowly gained enough influence to have himself declared the Archduke of Vendaven. Aldsea, and Vendaven in general, was struggling mostly to regain its former strength and renew diplomatic relations. Furthermore, due to its location and involvement in the sea trade, Aldsea was soon able to support Vendaven financially and act as a successor of Strombourgh, the last capital of Vendaven and the second largest city of the former kingdom. After the reign of King Karl, Aldsea no longer served as Vendaven's capital , but it still remains as one of Vendaven's cities and it serves as a hub for sailors and people travelling by sea. It is also a huge and busy trading hub for merchants and the locals who reside there. Before Vendaven (Aureum) Aureum was founded by two brothers, Auros and Eular in 1007. After leaving their homes for a hunt, they have set up a camp near the river mouth. The brothers knew that the local forests are roamed by packs of wolves, yet they have decided they will not manage to return before the dusk, and did not want to risk travelling at night. They have decided they will take turns at night so that if one of them spot any danger, they can warn the other. Unfortunately, Eular, the younger brother, fell asleep during his guard. Both brothers were woken up by a bear’s roar, to which they hastily grabbed their daggers trying to defend themselves from being attacked by one. To their amazement, the bear was stood between a few visibly terrified wolves and themselves. After the wolves started running towards the trees, the brothers looked at the bear with grave fear – even if they managed to kill it, there was a high chance they would suffer great pain and wounds. The bear turned around and looked at Auros, the older of the brothers. The majestic creature now was stood on its hind legs, frozen still, as was Auros. The bear then rested back on its paws and just casually turned around and slowly walked back into the forest, as if nothing ever happened. The brothers have then decided that this was a sign from their goddess, Netle, and that the occurrence with a creature would mark a harmony between the nature and the humans, and started the settlement, which throughout the years has evolved into Aureum. The legend says that deep underneath the Aureum Manor, there is a hidden chamber with the bear’s tooth, passed down father to son for generations, going back all the way to Auros. Before Vendaven (Karum) Karum was founded by Mortiffer Lightbright 987. He believed the location was perfect as a defensive location to protect the western part of Thoralis by land and by sea. He also saw potential for a naval base, though that idea wasn't put into reality for a long long time. Karum started as a small island camp with a wooden pallisade to defend the west of Thoralis from attacks from pirates and the barbarians from the south. Mortiffer was succesfull in fending of attacks of pirates and barbarians, but in 1011 he died fighting of a pirate attack just south of Karum. His son, Ulric Lightbright took over and started reinforcing the fort, turning it into a small stone fort. He spend his life fighting of the bandits and barbarians like his father, and improving the fort untill he died an early death in 1033. Ulric's sister Anbeth took, Building a large keep and meeting hall in Karum and allowed people to settle for protection. Eventually she died in 1049, leaving no heir.The fort stood there for a short amount of time until in 1051 a mage by the name of William Stone settled in the fort. He ordered all the villagers to build him a large tower for sorcery, which was finished a couple years later. The mage experimented with magic in his tower or on the unsuspecting villagers. Eventually the villagers were fed up and poisoned the mage, who died due to the effects of the poison in 1091 Soon after the mage's demise in 1091 Garth and Odessa Tyros took control of Karum and expanded on the town with the construction of a port. Karum profited from this and had some glorious years before they both passed away from old age in 1131, leaving their only son Gerrard Tyros in charge. Gerrard was a gambler and addicted to it. In time he got in debt with the wrong people. In 1142 they launched an all out assault on Karum when Gerrard refused to pay back his debt. Although they managed to defeat the attackers Karum was left in a bad shape and Gerrard was killed in the fight. The people of Karum then chose Greven Envec, a loved and trusted captain as their new leader of Karum. Greven was very fond on the relationship between Karum and Aureum and layed down the foundations for Vendaven. Unfortunately Greven made the mistake of aiding Highreach with a small raid to try and improve the relations between the factions and he ended up angering the ruler of the Crossing. In 1145 the ruler of the Crossing came over and murdered Greven in cold blood. After Greven's Demise his brother Ihsan took over and continued Greven's plans in uniting Karum and Aureum. That very same year (1145) the cities of Karum and Aureum united under the new flag of Vendaven. A large country stretching from the XXXX to the western ends of the Kingswood. With the wall to it's south and the riverlands to its north. In 1147 the barony of wayrest was created. A small patch of land at the coast in between Karum and Aureum. It is meant to be a small community of mostly farmers and as a midway-point for the journey from Karum to Aureum. History on Vendaven Nobility In the past , The Kingdom of Vendaven were ruled by five houses of nobility. They were the House Albius , House Envec , House Godfyre , House Varseveld and House Cordayne. House Albius was an ancient elven house with roots in the ruling and nobility of Aureum.They originated from Merklin , but considered Aureum to be their hometown.They were one of 3 major Houses that had a lot of influence in Aureum. When Aureum and Karum merged into Vendaven, this influence was lost 'till some extent but they remained a powerful family nontheless. House Envec was one of the newest noble houses. Originaly not of noble birth, Greven Envec, the founder of the legecy, Traveled to Karum from unknown reaches and enlisted as a soldier. He made many friends amongs Karum including its leader Gerrard, who later died in a bandit raid. Being the last in his line, the people of Karum elected Greven Envec as their new leader and the town seemed to flourish. In the Thriving of the town Greven strengthened the bonds with Aureum. Based on these bonds, Vendaven would later emerge. Greven would not be around for this however, as he met his demise by the hands of Olaf Utstein I, after being lured out of his keep and taken prisoner. It was at this time that Ihsan Envec traveled to Aureum in search of his brother with news of their mothers demise. After hearing the grave news of his brothers death. By right of rule, he was the new ruler of Karum. New to his task, he enlisted the help of Grevens trusted commander, Daryl Cordayne, to help him rule the lands of Karum. With Daryl's help, Ihsan quickly rose to be a prominent leader. At this time he sought to tighten his bonds with Aureum. After various diplomatic endeavours, he found an arrangement with the ruler of Aureum, Viktor Varseveld, and the two towns would fall under one banner, one nation. The nation of Vendaven. During the prime of Vendaven, Ihsan adopted the bastard son of his brother Greven. A boy named Ertai, who was later acknowledged as also being an Envec. Ihsan also maried the dwarven beauty, Crystal Stonehall, and together they had a baby girl by the name of Khalia. There were also plans to marry the houses of Vendaven and Godfyre, but the attempts made to accomplish this never succeeded. The Godfyres were an old royal house that ruled over Kingsreach and Thoralis. Their house were the indesputable rules of Thoralis, and their wealth and power stretched far and wide. Their house formed up of three brothers, Macam, Peter and Alexander. While Alexander took the throne, his brothers showed more interest in the outer lands and moved from their capital of kingsreach to the city of Aureum. Their wealth and help ensured that Aureum, a small fishing village, grew into a large thriving capital of the southern reaches of Kingsreach. Peter Godfyre ruled the town side by side with Viktor Varseveld. At the merging of Karum and Aureum the Godfyres remained in power of Aureum, but slowly, the balance of power shifted more towards house Varseveld. They remained a prominent factor within Vendaven. But were no successors to its ruling. House Varseveld is one of the oldest houses in Aureum. They have always been amongst the influencial houses and having a say in the ruling of the town. By the time the Godfyre's Arrived in town, the Varsevelds were in control of Aureum. They allowed the Godfyres to rule by their side, as to increase their status even further. They also knew the importance of having good diplomatic relations and thus they invested alot of effort in maintaining good relations with Karum. When Ihsan suggested to merge Karum and Aureum into a single nation house Varseveld was key in the negotiations and planning that was necessary for this merging. They managed to become the rulers of Aureum and were close to Ihsan Envec, who was pronounced as ruler of Vendaven. Their house always kept the well-being of Aureum at heart, and were loyal to the king of Vendaven. House Cordayne was born out of common blood. It's founder, Daryl Cordayne served as a trusted commander for Greven Envec. Upon Greven's death, he found himself in the servitude of his brother, Ihsan, who didn't knew much about the ruling of a town. Daryl proved to be a invaluable ally to him as he teached Ihsan alot about the ruling of Karum. When Ihsan managed to unite Karum and Aureum under Vendaven, Ihsan moved to Aureum. As a reward for all his support to him and his brother, Ihsan raised Daryl Cordayne into nobility and named him Duke of Karum. Giving him rule over the town of Karum. Though most of the nation's wealth resided in Aureum. Under Daryl Cordayne's rule Karum managed well for itself too. And in times of need the city would be opened to any who needed help or shelter. Image Sources http://paintings.demolliart.com/europe/18a64fc80.jpg Category:Kingdom. Category:Faction.